Mamma Mia

“Fantastico!”

After reading reviews on Tripadvisor I created a list of various restaurants to check out when visiting Stirling. Not very familiar with the city and with my luck I couldn’t find any of the restaurants! However after wandering around we decided to walk up the hill heading towards the old jail. We were about to turn back but I caught a glimpse of a few tables outside a shop in the distance. The tables were outside Mamma Mia, one of the places on my list! We went inside and we’re greeted by a stereotypical Italian man. It had just turned 12pm and there was already another table of two. The lunch menu is priced at £10.90 (2 courses) or £12.90 (3 courses) and offers a selection of 5-6 dishes for each course except dessert.

To start I ordered the Cozze Marinara O Cozze Livornese (Mussels with spicy Livornese sauce) and was easily persuaded by the waiter to order a portion of garlic bread “would you like a garlic bread to dippa in da sauce?”. My pal Ross ordered the Funghi Fritti (breaded mushrooms with garlic sauce). The mussels were an excellent choice and the Livornese sauce was delicious. For mains I ordered the Sogliola Alla Mugnaia Con Funghi (Pan fried sole with mushroom sauce and grilled aubergine and zucchini with gratin potatoes), Ross opted for the Lasagne and was also persuaded to order garlic bread “to dippa in da sauce”. Fried leeks were used as a garnish on the sole which I enjoyed as they both looked good and tasted great. I decided to give dessert a miss but had a taste of Ross’s Dessert of the day (which was Tiramisu) and I have to say was pretty good. To drink we ordered a couple of Peroni beers.

The host was a typical Italian guy which I found to be very amusing watching him interact with the ladies in the restaurant. At times when he talked about food his words were almost mesmerising, as Italians have a way with words and can ramble on for hours about anything food related with passion. I was really surprised with the great quality of food when it came as the restaurants décor seemed quite clustered and old fashioned. I guess you should never judge a book by its cover. To sum it up Mamma Mia for lunch is excellent value for money. Looking forward to the next time I return.